Study Tools

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Roald Dahl

Chapters 3 and 4

Chapters 7 and 8

Summary

Mr. Bucket reads a declaration by Mr. Wonka in the newspaper. After
ten years of mystery, he is inviting five children to tour his factory.
He will be their tour guide. Furthermore, at the end of the tour, each
child will leave the factory with a lifetime supply of Wonka goodies.
The five invitations to his factory are hidden within five Wonka
chocolate bars in the form of golden tickets. The tickets may be
anywhere that Wonka candy bars are sold, and they are the only means
of entry into the factory. Mr. Wonka closes his declaration by wishing
everyone good luck.

Grandma Josephine is too ill to respond. Grandma Georgina thinks
Mr. Wonka is crazy, Grandpa George is amazed, and Grandpa Joe is
incredibly excited, claiming that Wonka is a genius. His golden
ticket scheme will raise chocolate bar sales around the world. Grandpa
Joe plants the seed in Charlie’s mind that he could find one of
the golden tickets, though Charlie assumes it would be nearly impossible.
Grandma Georgina reminds Charlie that he has as much chance as anyone
of finding a golden ticket when he receives a chocolate bar on his
upcoming birthday. Grandpa George quickly contradicts his wife,
explaining that Charlie only gets one bar a year and the winners
will be children who can afford endless bars of chocolate.

A newspaper article tells the Bucket family that Augustus
Gloop, a tremendously fat little boy, has found the first ticket.
The town in which Augustus lives throws a parade in his honor. His
mother explains to the newspaper how proud she is of her son. She
explains that Augustus was bound to find a ticket because of his
gigantic appetite. After all, eating is his hobby, which Mrs. Gloop
defends as being better than being a hooligan or playing with toy
guns. She also explains that Augustus would not eat so much unless
he needed the nourishment. Charlie’s grandmothers respond to the
article with disgust. After Augustus finds the first ticket, the
entire world becomes preoccupied with finding the remaining four
tickets. Stories abound of parents and children alike searching
for the tickets. Mothers buy chocolate bars by the dozen, children
destroy their piggy banks, and one gangster even robs a bank in
order to get money to buy chocolate bars. A Russian woman claims
to find the second ticket, but it turns out to be a fake. An English
scientist creates a machine to determine whether a golden ticket
exists within a bar of chocolate without unwrapping it, but while
demonstrating the machine he inadvertently steals a gold filling
from a duchess’s mouth.

The second ticket is found on the day before Charlie’s
birthday. The newspaper reports that the finder is a girl named
Veruca Salt. Her father is the wealthy owner of a peanut shelling
factory, which is the key to Veruca’s find. After Veruca demands
a golden ticket of her father, he demands that all of his employees
stop shelling peanuts and begin shelling candy bars until someone
finds a golden ticket for his daughter. Mr. Salt purchases truckloads
of candy bars and his employees unwrap them every day and every
night. Veruca gets more and more angry with each day that passes,
throwing temper tantrums and demanding her ticket. On the fourth
day of the candy bar shelling, one of Mr. Salt’s employees finally
unwraps a golden ticket, which Mr. Salt uses to coax a smile from
his daughter. Grandma Josephine and Grandma Georgina remark what
a hideous girl Veruca must be. Even Charlie thinks Mr. Salt’s behavior
is unfair. Grandpa Joe explains to Charlie that Mr. Salt spoils
Veruca and that nothing good comes from spoiling a child. Mrs. Bucket calls
Charlie to bed, reminding him that tomorrow is his birthday and
that he will get his own chocolate bar to unwrap. Grandpa Joe asks
Charlie to unwrap the bar in front of his grandparents.

Analysis

Dahl continues to distinguish Grandpa Joe from the other
grandparents by infusing him with even more positive qualities.
The other grandparents are all old and stodgy, and none of them
engages Charlie the way Grandpa Joe does. Grandpa Joe’s reaction
to Mr. Wonka further differentiates Grandpa Joe from the others.
Whereas the other grandparents think Mr. Wonka is crazy for sending
out his golden tickets, Grandpa Joe thinks Mr. Wonka is a genius.
Both Charlie and Grandpa Joe feel a childlike reverence for Mr.
Wonka.

Chapters 5 and 6 establish the darker side of children
while also highlighting the culpability of parents for their children’s
shortcomings. Dahl describes Augustus Gloop as an enormously fat
child and subtly attributes Augustus’ size to his mother’s incompetence.
Mrs. Gloop mistakenly thinks her son’s enormous appetite is caused
by his desire for nutrients. Her deficient parenting results in
Augustus’s obesity. Similarly, Veruca Salt is a miserable brat,
but her father feeds her demanding nature. Mr. Salt explains to
reporters that he chooses to put all of his considerable resources
into finding a golden ticket for his daughter in order to appease
her. The implication is that if these parents did not overly indulge
their children, they would be much better off and much happier people.

While recounting the negative aspects of Augustus’s and
Veruca’s characters, Charlie’s grandparents weigh in on how to raise
children. They frequently disparage both children and their parents.
In the case of Veruca, they even go so far as to suggest how her
parents ought to parent her. Charlie is a much gentler critic. Therefore, when
he criticizes Mr. Salt for unfairly securing his daughter’s ticket, his
criticism holds far more weight. In doing so, Charlie both incriminates
adults like Mr. Salt and further secures the reader’s sympathy.